As the raging forest fire surged ever closer through the dark pines, the alien war machines too closed in on us, the questing rays causing gouts of white-hot steam to bubble from the black lagoon. In its fetid depths the monster stirred, as the priestess in the ring of runes chanted desperately, her voice rising in a shrill crescendo…
Yes, well… I am kind of tempted to leave you with that and say ‘continue. Build backstory. (flashbacks are cheating). ‘
In media res – in the middle of the story – is an easy enough trick when writing contemporary fiction. It works well, engaging the reader quickly. The ‘joy’ in contemporary fiction is that the reader needs minimal explanation of the setting, background, culture etc. All the writer has ‘build back’ is the story.
Fantasy or sf (or even historical) are a considerably harder hurdle, simply because the setting etc. are inevitably relevant to the story (even in Space Opera – which in theory COULD take the story and transpose to a Western, or whatever.)
Of course, the more complicated, the harder the build-back… and the greater the chance that you’ll lose the reader because while they might want to find out what the hades is going on, they’re also looking for a signal that that this their kind of book. If they can’t be sure if it is a murder mystery, horror, sf or fantasy. Maybe they don’t care, or they actually want to find out which it is, and you’ve won. Or maybe they pick the wrong one, and it’s not what they want, and as the cover doesn’t give a good clue… back on the shelf it goes.
But my writing friends, the real trick about ‘in media res’ is that it inspires curiousity about the part of the story that normally loses you readers. Yes, it gets things moving fast, but it gets the reader asking themselves ‘ how did the character get into this mess?” Frankly, if you start at the very beginning… you’ll possibly lose them… because that background tends to be slow and sometimes complex. Yes, it is hard to work in, but well worth it.
Mad Genius Club 
4 responses to “In media res”
I got carried away with a lengthy response which will show up as my post for next week. Thanks, Dave.
And there is the question of how in media you put your res. The alien invaders might already be doing damage, so you have to flee your home, long before you get trapped in the fire.
The heroine is set off to a secure location in the mountains to protect her from abduction, and only after several scenes do the would-be abductor’s minions show up, showing he is putting extra effort into it.
But please don’t lard your media res with so many in-world terms and assumptions that readers get lost in the weeds of “What does that mean? Does it mean anything? What’s a [redacted] anyway? Is he/she/running, hiding, what? This is not fun.”
No, I’m not naming names, in part because it’s been several years and I don’t recall the author. I tried twice to get past the first chapter and crashed both times. It was just too much muchness.
Very good point. The best way I’ve seen this handled is in the first chapter of “Space Station Noir” – it’s narrated by one of the main characters, who is such a motormouth that the reader gets carried along with the vivid action of his story. When the reader realizes that the “monsters” he is referring to are in fact humans, it’s a bit of a shock, but by that time we identify with this character to the point that you accept it and go along to see what happens next.